Siena Heights women's basketball falls to No. 25 Saint Francis

Sunday

Nov 25, 2012 at 10:37 AMNov 25, 2012 at 10:48 AM

Saints lose 73-70 in Thanksgiving Tournament championship game

By John KoserDaily Telegram Sports Writer

The Siena Heights University women's basketball team came up just short on Saturday, falling to NAIA Division II No. 25-ranked Saint Francis (Ind.) 73-70 in the championship game of Siena Heights Thanksgiving Tournament.

The Saints (4-2) were without their starting guard Grace Howrigon (illness) and their offense suffered for it, committing 23 turnovers during the game.

"Obviously, it was a huge loss with Grace out," said Siena Heights coach Sue Syljebeck. "She leads the team in assists, and she's an excellent floor leader for us. She let's us compete on every possession."

With Howrigon out, Sierra Calhoun stepped in to fill the opening, despite it not being her normal position.

"I found out I was starting during out shoot around," said Calhoun. "I knew with Grace out I was going to have to step up and play point. I was extremely nervous at the beginning of the game, but I knew I had to be a leader for the team."

Calhoun did step up, leading the Saints with 26 points, but Siena's offense was out of synch for a majority of the first half. The Cougars made sure to take advantage of Siena's mistakes, scoring 22 points off of Saints turnovers.

While the Siena defense did well at keeping Saint Francis out of the paint, they struggled to cover the outside. The Cougars' outside shooting allowed them to build a 28-15 lead with seven minutes to go in the half. The Saints, who often struggle during the closing minutes of the first half, continued to keep up with the Cougars as Saint Francis took a 38-29 lead into halftime.

"We weren't playing Siena Heights basketball in the first half," said Syljebeck. "Halftime let the girls refocus on what we wanted to do and come out a compete in the second half."

Unfortunately for the Saints, their offense continued to struggled out of the half. Offensive plays weren't working, and the team continued to make poor passes and commit turnovers. Saint Francis continued to capitalize on Siena's miscues, taking a 46-33 lead with 14 minutes left in the game.

It was at that time that Calhoun seemed to find her comfort zone, and the Saints began to feed the ball into the posts. Mackenzie Tomasik was rock solid in the paint for the Saints in the second half, accounting for 13 points and six rebounds.

The Saints began to tighten up defensively, and the Saint Francis lead slowly began to wear away. The Saints dominance in the paint forced the Cougars to commit several fouls in only a few minutes, allowing the Saints to get to the free-throw line.

"We're a very solid team in the post," said Syljebeck. "Now we need our guards to step up off the bench. We knew Saint Francis didn't have a deep bench and wanted to take advantage of that."

The Saints continued to chip away at Saint Francis' lead until it was 64-58 with 3:30 left in the game. Siena outrebounded the Cougars 45-29 and totaled 21 second-chance points. Calhoun was now firing on all cylinders for the Saints, drawing fouls left and right as she drove to the basket. Calhoun made every foul worth it as she finished 8-for-9 from the foul line.

"I'm a penetrating player," said Calhoun. "Driving to the hole and attacking is what I do. At halftime I got a lot of encouragement from the team. I felt confident in the second half and knew I was going to have to leave it all on the floor."

With a minute left, the Saints brought the game within a basket at 66-64. The Cougars managed to increase their lead to 69-64 from the foul line and with only 37 seconds left in the game, the Saints were forced to begin to purposely fouling the Cougars. Saint Francis kept the game out of reach at the foul line and took the game 73-70.

"Its frustrating," said Syljebeck. "It was a three-point game without our starting guard and all the turnovers. Saint Francis is a good team. They're 8-0 and maybe a top 15 team. To get this close and lose to them at home is tough."

Despite the narrow loss, Syljebeck did see positives for the Saints during the game.

"Sierra stepped up for us today and was a great help," Syljebeck said. "She played well for being out of position, but wasn't entirely comfortable. ... Today spoke a lot about our resilience. The next step is to get to the point where we don't have to make a comeback to stay in the game."

Morgan Warfield finished with 14 points and four rebounds for Siena Heights. Jen Jasinski added seven points and 10 rebounds for the Saints.

Siena Heights will hit the road for a WHAC game at Cornerstone on Wednesday.